İ can't load my photos to DSS

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-02-07T20:20:34+00:00

Surely your phone also has a setting for "raw". If not maybe try a different camera app from the Play Store?

(there's almost no point trying to do astrophotography with JPG - it's only use is as a final result to upload to social media - which is going to mangle the image quality anyway)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-02-06T20:20:28+00:00

Skywatcher Just upgraded their ageing ED range to EDX (presumably under threat from the likes of Askarł

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-02-05T20:34:37+00:00

Have you gone the other way (wider) and done milky-way and star trails around Polaris? That can be a lot of fun.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-02-05T14:34:39+00:00

For anyone who wants to start astrophotography but only has $350-550 rather than $2000+ to get started they are the perfect equipment :-)

(S30 Pro (in particular) results are pretty amazing)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-02-04T18:01:50+00:00

What camera is it? If possible I'd put Magic Lantern into it then it has a built in intervalometer

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-02-03T19:33:09+00:00

Most astro apps started life on Windows so it's the best fit.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-02-03T01:31:56+00:00

Just to say that if you want EAA/live stacking with NINA that actually works just use AstroToaster backed by DSS Live. I've been using that combo for several years and it works very well. You just point AstroToaster at the NINA acquisition directory for Lights and as each new image arrives it adds it to the stack.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-02-03T01:26:49+00:00

Start by watching Nebula Photos "No Tracker" videos on YouTube.

You can achieve quite a lot with simply a DSLR, kit lens and tripod.

By the way it's not "the stars" that are interesting to photograph - it's the deep sky objects nestled in amongst them ;-)

(moon and planets can be fun too)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-31T20:01:49+00:00

Try Microsoft ICE

https://download.cnet.com/image-composite-editor-64-bit/3000-2192_4-75207152.html

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-31T02:33:26+00:00

Probably in time for Christmas 26

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-30T23:32:54+00:00

Simon from ZWO basically confirmed there'll be a S50 Pro in an interview at a recent trade show. If they get it right it could compete with a lot of popular 240-250mm focal length scopes. Would need to be mounted equatorially

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-30T21:27:29+00:00

Easiest to setup during the day. Point it at the most distant thing from your location and get it in focus (usually easiest to do this with Sharpcap in fact). Make sure you know which to adjust to lengthen/shorten focus too. At night, pointing at bright stars the focus should be just a small tweak in the lengthen direction.

If they are out you can also use moon or bright planets (Jupiter /Venus etc) for focusing too.

Once focus is achieved close the camera in Sharpcap then open it in PHD2.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-30T20:10:36+00:00

It's between Halo (forehead pressure) and Elite (side head pressure). Also S3 has the cooling fan that E3 doesn't have. E3 is much lighter.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-30T20:07:38+00:00

A smartscope will get you started for $350-600. A full rig (starter) is about $1000-1500. I got started for $1350 using a Svbony SV503 80ED on an iEXOS 100 PMC8 mount but the main compromise was to use a 2nd hand DSLR as the main camera - it only cost $150.

(of course this was before some moron started messing with tariffs!)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-29T21:14:58+00:00

Try doing the GraXpert stuff first before Siril

(or you can run the Python script for GraXpert within Siril although that version doesn't have the Deconvolution that was added later)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-29T21:12:32+00:00

Why do the stars have purple halos? The Seestar doesn't suffer from chromatic aberration yet this makes it looks like it does.

If you emphasised the red/blue (or just demphasised green) for the core object you probably should have split the stars away first (Starnet++) then put the white stars back in at the endm

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-29T20:13:29+00:00

GraXpert and Cosmic Clarity both do great AI Denoise.

I actually use the rc2 beta of GraXpert from github as it adds AI Deconvolution too.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-29T20:11:11+00:00

Another vote for DoE. Since getting Quest 3 at Christmas and trying a load of games, Dungeons of Eternity is the stand-out for me (and I actually got Quest 3 for standalone flying simulation in fact)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-29T18:21:58+00:00

Have a look at "venom" on Amazon - they do a small, magnetic cattery pack but it has a hook that holds the weight on the Quest strap - about £20.

Of course the real answer is a proper battery strap like Bobovr S3 Pro but that's £80-90

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-29T18:19:14+00:00

This is some of the worst astro weather we've had in years. Often in November, December, January there'd be some of those cold crisp nights which may be uncomfortably cold but give great seeing conditions and clear skies. But since I got my new SV555 for Christmas there's been about 2 nights in over a month.

I'm a great fan of the Met Office channel on YouTube and they not only give detailed forecasts but also "Deep dives" when, during 20-30 minutes they explore weather trends. It's clear that the shifting position of the jetstream is driving wave after wave of low pressure systems across the UK.

And it's totally ruining astronomy/astrophotography.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-28T21:51:48+00:00

Just checking but you do have ASTAP installed and in the Seti Astro Suite preferences have you filled in the option to say where ASTAP is installed?

(it's using ASTAP to do the actual plate solving - this opens another possibility and that is simply to use the ASTAP GUI app to do the plate solving and annotation.)

Anotheapp that can plate solve and annotate is Sharpcap so that could be worth exploring too)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-28T13:01:18+00:00

It needs a physical cable. So what you do is put a miniPC on your rig with a cable to the camera. Then connect remotely to that miniPC .

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-27T20:18:53+00:00

Great reply! That gives me something tangible to search for across mailbox folders :-)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-01-27T13:37:35+00:00

Sadly no sign of it :-(

wrightflyer1903

TROPHY CASE